The process of configuring a firewall with information about network topology and security policy is often laborious and error prone. A user typically has to manually configure the firewall to obtain the desired topology and policy. This process requires the user to individually identify each network in the network topology, each relationship between networks, and each policy that is required. Such a labor-intensive process provides many opportunities for errors and does not provide feedback to the user about the level of security provided.
One existing solution attempts to reduce the labor required to manually configure a firewall by limiting the firewall to a single pre-defined network topology that is directly associated with network interface in the firewall device. However, this prior solution fails to allow the firewall to adapt to complex network topologies. The solution also fails to provide an easy and intuitive process for defining security policies.
Thus, there is a need for a reliable method to configure a firewall that is user-friendly and adaptable to complex network topologies.